"This is not to say that fraud does not exist, because it very obviously does, woven into the fabric of our society. The pandemic in particular was its own little golden age of American federal fraud, involving untold and unprecedented dollar totals being siphoned off from legitimate support programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program."
"It's also accurate to say that fraud ran wild in the state of Minnesota in particular, despite the partisan impulse of left-leaning media outlets to attempt to write it off. Federal prosecutors have charged 98 people in the state with felony fraud cases related to social services programs since 2022, with potential totals in stolen cash (mostly reimbursements for services never given) likely reaching beyond a staggering $1 billion in taxpayer money. Roughly 60% of those cases have resulted in convictions."
Fraud exists widely, with the pandemic generating unprecedented federal fraud that diverted large sums from legitimate support programs. The Small Business Administration inspector general estimates more than $200 billion of about $1.2 trillion in pandemic-era loans went to potentially fraudulent actors, with only a fraction prosecuted or recovered. Minnesota saw extensive social-services fraud, with 98 felony charges since 2022 and likely over $1 billion in stolen reimbursements; roughly 60% led to convictions. A large share of defendants are Minnesota residents of Somali descent. Political actors are leveraging fraud allegations to shrink or reallocate safety-net funding toward Republican-controlled states.
Read at Jezebel
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